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9 Tips to Great Design for Your Marketing Materials
By: Neroli Lacey, Fri Mar 17th, 2006
9 TIPS FOR GREAT DESIGN 1) Don’t just hire a good designer.
Hire someone who has had plenty of experience designing business
collateral. Your designer needs to ask you the right questions
about the project. And he/ she needs to be able to turn the
design round reasonably fast too.
2) Write the copy first. I believe the copy drives the project.
(Unless this is a print ad, in which case the visual and
headline will often dominate).
3) Read your copy word for word to your designer. You’d be
amazed how often designers don’t understand the project because
they haven’t been properly briefed. Your designer is going to be
expressing in design the same persuasive arguments that you /
your writer will be articulating in words.
4) Ensure that your designer communicates your branding i.e. the
values you are trying to communicate.
5) Check that the copy is easy to read once it has been laid out
by your designer. If the design takes too much attention to
itself, then your readers won’t be following your arguments.
6) A professional designer will give you a creative brief: he
sets out on paper the brief as he understands it. This includes
the brand and the benefits of the offer in question. The
creative brief means misunderstandings get cleared up before it
they are too expensive to change.
7) He’ll then present you with 2-3 design options for your
review, about 3 weeks later.
8) Remember, you aren’t choosing the color for your sports car,
you are choosing the piece that best reflects the brand and
personality of your company or offering.
9) Finally your designer brings you the finished product. He
instructs printers and oversees production.
WOULD YOU LIKE A WORLD-CLASS JOURNALIST TO GHOSTWRITE AN ARTICLE
FOR PUBLICATION FOR YOU? Contact Neroli Lacey NOW!
How clear and persuasive is your website, brochure copy or
direct mail? Call Neroli Lacey NOW to win more business TODAY.
CALL ++ 612. 215. 3826 or email: neroli@beyondcommunications.com
About the author:
I’ve been helping executives transform their businesses and
their lives with outstanding marketing materials since 1995. I
have worked with clients in Boston, San Francisco, Dallas,
Austin, Minneapolis, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and Delhi.
I used to be one of the top journalists in Britain writing for
The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The
Independent, and more. Please visit my website:
beyondcommunications.com
